How do you tell someone you love that you are good enough and you deserve to eat?
I asked myself this question a countless number of times as I watched my childhood best friend, a Black woman who was a track athlete, run over 10 miles every single day, and only fueling herself with one large iced McDonald’s coffee, and sometimes, if she burned enough calories, would treat herself with a singular scoop of peanut butter. Some might see this as dedication and discipline, but underneath it discloses the pressure society puts on women, especially women of color. When looking at her situation through a feminist lens, it’s obvious that she wasn’t alone in this battle; factors such as gender and cultural expectations, race, and media influences on health all intersected to shape her experience.
As I don’t want to speak on what I think her experience was like, I would rather focus on the broader societal issues this situation reflects. Women have these impossible expectations with body image, health, and societal expectations. As someone who cannot relate to her identity as a Black woman or as a competitive track athlete, I do understand I cannot fully understand her experience, but I do think this is an important topic that needs to be brought to life.
These societal expectations get even more complicated when race is involved, especially in athletic scenarios. Society has made up these harmful myths about people of color’s athletic abilities, such as that they have a unique physical advantage and how they are naturally more athletic. Green Freeney Jr. discusses how excusing all of the hard work that got these athletes to their athletic success by saying it comes naturally ignores their training, hard work, and dedication, while also putting such large pressure on the athletes to perform at a higher level than others. This shows how race and athletic expectations intersect; this adds more pressure to women of color, especially when discussing their bodies and performance.
Another example of this can be seen in Black women athletes today. Gabby Thomas is a Black woman athlete in track who has broken records no one has before but has still faced online hate time and time again. She responded:
“I know y’all posted this to be shady, but no other demographic is policed as heavily as Black women… Too ghetto or not ghetto enough, too extra or not extra enough… God forbid we just exist.”
Her response highlights how women can never win, no matter what they do. This also connects back to the idea that the expectations and stereotypes put on people of color to perform physically and behave, or not to behave a certain way, can be harmful and unrealistic.
These stereotypes are also seen in Mikki Kendall’s book, Hood Feminism. She writes in her chapter titled “Black Girls Don’t Have Eating Disorders”:
“When you control nothing in your environment and are consistently bombarded with media messages that tell you that your body is simply wrong, it can make you feel that your body is the only thing you can control.”
The “ideal” body that is constantly portrayed in the media is often of thin, white, cisgender women. For young Black girls, this can be very harmful to their mental health, especially when these “ideal” bodies don’t reflect their own features. This can lead them to wanting to change the only thing they can really control, their body size or weight. This can cause behaviors such as restricting food, over-exercising, or developing an eating disorder. Societal expectations and media influence of beauty and body image often intersect with race, putting additional pressure on women of color.
At the end of the day, this isn’t one person’s story; it’s been a deeply rooted issue in our society for far too long. Conversations about mental health, eating disorders, body image, and racial or gender expectations need to be more openly discussed. Intersectionality affects each person differently, so letting room for people to talk about their own experiences is important. Only by encouraging these conversations can we begin to create a more supportive and understanding environment for all types of people, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, culture, background, identity, or lived experience.
Because everyone deserves to feel seen, heard, and supported. And please always remember…
You Are Good Enough.
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